//------------------------------// // Meetings and Meltdowns // Story: The Mixer Chronicles // by Mixer //------------------------------// Book Two: Meetings and Meltdowns I woke up slowly, the kind of slow creep towards consciousness. I yawned and rolled over, falling onto the floor. “Huh?” I said out loud. I had almost forgotten the events of yesterday and was disoriented for a moment while I looked around the library. “Oh good, you’re awake,” said the now familiar voice of Twilight Sparkle. “What time is it? I asked, untangling myself from the blanket. “The sun’s been up for over an hour. You slept in quite a lot,” she said,taking a sip from a cup that was floating next to her, surrounded in a purple aura. After disentangling myself, I folded up the blanket and placed it on the couch with my magic. “Did you sleep well?” she asked, setting her cup down on the table. “Yes, I slept fine. Thank you for allowing me to stay.” “You don’t have to keep thanking me, it was nothing really.” “As you wish.” I looked over as Spike came down the stairs, carrying a pair of saddlebags with Twilight’s cutie mark on them, clearly marking them as her’s. “Are you going somewhere?” I asked. “Yes, and you are too.” “What?” I asked, now curious. She opened up one of the saddle bags and placed a few scrolls inside. “I thought I would give you a tour of Ponyville. I’m sure my friends would like to meet you. And then I was planning on bringing you to see Princess Celestia this evening. She sounded like she wanted to meet you.” “You’re taking me to your Princess so soon? I would have thought there would be preparations to make for welcoming somepony from another country. That is to say, I wouldn’t expect such a warm welcome with the circumstances of my arrival.” “Why not? From what you said, it’s not your choice to be here, but you tried to help out without even knowing us,” she said, putting a pair of books in the other saddle bag. “True, but it was kind of a pitiful effort. I’m just kind of surprised of the lack of caution you ponies show.” Twilight gave me a look that was partly puzzled and partly perturbed. “I meant no insult, I just think that you’re very quick to trust me. Trust is not so easy to come by where I come from.” “I guess that explains why you were showering me with thanks last night. That also explains why you seemed a little guarded when I was asking you all those questions,” she reasoned, putting on her saddlebags. She went to the door and opened it, Spike following close at her heels. “You coming?” “Will the library be alright unattended?” “It’ll be fine silly, now let’s go, I have a few ponies I would like to introduce you to.” I went through the door while she held it. It appeared she wanted to make sure I went outside. A yellowish pony with an orange mane waved at Twilight as she passed. “You ponies seem very friendly, though I suppose that is normal for small communities.” “From your description, your home is even bigger than Manehatten,” Twilight said, closing the door. “From what I saw of Manehatten in your books, yes.” “Then Ponyville must seem like a really small place.” “Yes. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to get use to it that quickly though. I haven’t been outside of the city, so this is all kind of strange. Though, I suppose a small community does have its advantages.” Twilight seemed to be satisfied with that answer and nodded before trotting off. I followed her through the town, looking over the buildings and the residents as they wend about their business. Some ponies were peddling produce and other items from stalls in the market. Others were walking about, headed to destinations unknown. Others still were at an open air restaurant, enjoying late breakfasts, early lunches, or some combination thereof. Twilight continued walking, pointing out specific shops and other buildings that she thought I should know about. It was at one of these buildings that we stopped: Carousel Boutique. Twilight explained that this was where Rarity lived and worked as a tailor and dressmaker. The building itself was almost three stories tall, two actual floors topped with a small spire. The first floor looked quite large and the outside of the building had pillars to help support the structure’s weight. The second story had a set of statues on it, giving show to the building’s name. Twilight went up to the door and knocked. A few moments later, Rarity appeared at the door wearing a pair of red glasses. “Hello Twilight. I see you brought a guest.” She moved out of the doorway and beckoned with her hoof, “Do come in.” We were ushered inside to a room full of ponnequins, some were bare while others were adorned with dresses at different stages of completion. In the center of the room was what appeared to be a platform for displaying or modeling dresses and off to one side was a red couch, along with a blind to change behind. “Welcome to Carousel Boutique. I apologize for the mess, I was trying to brainstorm for a new line of dresses,” the white mare said, closing the door behind us. “Rarity, I’m showing Mixer around Ponyville, and I thought that I’d introduce him to everypony,” Twilight explained. “Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you darling. We didn’t get a chance to be properly introduced before,” she said, giving me a short bow. “The pleasure is all mine,” I said, bowing in return. “Twilight has been very generous to me, allowing me to stay at the library last night.” “You poor thing. Didn’t you have any place to stay?” “I’m afraid not. Coming here was... spontaneous, and I wasn’t really prepared,” I replied, not wishing to take the time needed to give her the full explanation. “Well, I’m glad that you could at least stay at Twilight’s. Do you know how long you’ll be staying here in Ponyville?" “Uh, Rarity, Mixer’s kind of stuck here,” Twilight interjected. “Stuck? You mean he can’t leave?” Rarity asked, sounding concerned. “I’m afraid so. I cannot return home, at least for the time being,” I said. “That’s awful! Simply dreadful. You can’t go home? I’m so sorry dear.” I put up a hoof to hold back further words of sympathy. “It’s alright. For the time being I think I can manage, though I do hope to return as soon as I am able.” “Well, if I can help in any way all you need to do is ask,” she offered. “Thank you, I’ll keep that in mind.” “Well, we should be going if we want to see everypony today,” Twilight said, heading for the door. “Very well. Goodbye Rarity, and good luck with your dresses.” “Goodbye Mixer. Good luck to you as well,” she said as we walked out the door. “She seemed very nice. She also seemed like she’s from a high class family,” I commented. “Yes, Rarity does pride herself on being ladylike,” Twilight mused, walking in a new direction. We continued until we came to what appeared to be a life sized gingerbread house, complete with icing and gumdrops. “This is Sugarcube corner and this-” The door flew open to a shower of streamers. “Welcome to Ponyville!” came a cheer from the door. “...Is where Pinkie lives..." The mare in question appeared in the doorway with a slice of cake in hoof, which she proceeded to jam in my face. I have to admit, for force-fed cake, it tasted pretty good. “Pinkie,” Twilight admonished. “What? I throw everypony a welcome to Ponyville party,” Pinkie said. After clearing the cake from my face I was able to speak in my own defense. “Uh, hello...” I said, not knowing what to expect after getting cake shoved in my face. “Hiya!” Pinkie said cheerfully, as if she hadn’t just covered me with streamers and cake. “Pinkie, first of all, how do you know that Mixer is even staying in Ponyville?” Twilight asked. “You mean he wasn’t doing some sciency stuff in a super cool lab, then was mysteriously teleported here when Discord was making everything all crazy and flip floppy?” Both Twilight and myself were dumbfounded. I could have sworn my jaw actually hit the ground. “How did you know that?” Twilight asked, regaining her composure first. “Lucky guess,” the pink mare said happily. “Does...Does she do this all the time?” I asked, still completely struck that a mere guess was so dead on. Twilight gave a heavy sigh, “Not all the time, but yes.” Pinkie just giggled and trotted around us. Spike nudged me to snap me out of it. “Don’t think about it too hard.” “Pinkie, I brought Mixer so I could properly introduce him to everypony,” Twilight explained. “Everypony? Did he meet Cranky? Or Cheerilee? Oh! Did he meet-” “Pinkie!” “Oops, sorry.” “I didn’t literally mean everypony, I just meant us six.” “Oh, well in that case,” she stopped mid sentence and turned towards me, “Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie!” “Nice to meet you, again. In case you don’t remember my name it’s-” “Of course I remember your name silly! It’s Mixer. I remember everypony’s name!” she said cheerfully. “Apparently you also like to cut ponies off,” I muttered. “Well Pinkie we should get going. So far he’s only met you and Rarity,” Twilight explained, trying to hurry us on our way. “Okie-dokie-loki” Pinkie chimed, before trotting back inside. Twilight let out a sigh of relief and we continued on our way. Next we went toward the edge of town to a small cottage that looked like it was built entirely from plant matter, the roof looking as if it were the top of a tree. “This is where Fluttershy lives. She takes care of all the critters in Ponyville.” “One pony takes care of all the animals in town?” “Yes. Fluttershy is incredibly good with animals,” Twilight replied, walking up to the door and knocking. To my utter surprise a white rabbit answered the door. “Who is it Angel bunny?” came a soft voice from inside. “It’s me, Twilight, and a guest. Can we come in?” Twilight asked, poking her head in the door. “Oh, of course, come in.” The rabbit, Angel, hopped out of the doorway and Twilight and myself went inside. The interior of the cottage was full of birdhouses and other animal related objects such as feed bags and food and water dishes. Fluttershy herself was sitting a mouse in a ridiculously small wheelchair that seemed to be made for it. She finished with her “patient” and looked up at the two of us. “Hello. What brings you here?” “Well Fluttershy, I was introducing Mixer here to everypony,” Twilight explained. “Yes, we were not properly introduced last time we met,” I said. “Well I’m happy to meet you, Mixer.” “The pleasure is all mine. Twilight has been a gracious host, and everypony else has been friendly thus far, if a little strange.” “Strange?” she questioned, looking at me quizzically. “We just came to from Pinkie’s” Twilight explained. “Ah,” she said, apparently understanding. I took this time to take another look around. It was in this survey that I noticed that the rabbit was giving me a strange look. I couldn’t tell for sure, but it seemed like he was either sizing me up, or giving me the stink eye. “What are you staring at?” Fluttershy asked. “Him,” I said bluntly, pointing at the strange rabbit. “Oh. That’s just Angle bunny. Say hello Angel.” The rabbit crossed its arms and stuck its nose in the air. Now, normally I would only be minimally insulted if a pony did that, but a rabbit doing it was surprisingly rankling. “He must be hungry,” Fluttershy said. “He gets grumpy when he’s hungry. It was hard to believe that she was defending the insulting lagomorph, but I turned my gaze from him and back to my host. “Sorry for the in and out Fluttershy, but we should get going,” Twilight said. Her timing seemed better than perfect on two occasions now. We waved a goodbye to Fluttershy and left her cottage, taking a dirt road that ran parallel to town. “Where are we going now?” I asked my guide. “We’re going to Sweet Apple Acres. It’s an apple orchard run by the Apple family.” “So I take it we’re going to see Applejack next. “Mhm,” she answered picking up her pace just a bit. As we trotted along, I wondered how things would go later, for when I was to meet with the princess. Up until just a day ago, I didn’t even know that there was any major civilization outside of the city. Sure there were frontier settlements trying to escape the pressure of the city, but nothing near an independent nation. In a manner of speaking, I was going to be the first diplomat in the entire country. No pressure. In short order we arrived at the orchard and we came to a barnyard. Now, mind you, I came from a big city, a sprawling metropolis of spires and skyscrapers. Being somewhat of a scholar, I knew something about smaller settlements, which was why Ponyville’s appearance wasn’t so shocking, but this orchard had a single red barn and a small farmhouse. The well trodden earth of the barnyard told of generations of hooves that had trampled the soil into the well beaten paths that ran around the orchard. The air carried the smell of apples, a sweet smell that almost completely masked an indistinguishable under odor of something pungent. All in all, yep, it was a farm alright. We walked over to the barn where the door was left ajar, whether from carelessness, disrepair, or simple utility, I did not know. Inside the barn was dimmer than outside, but I could clearly make out a large stallion moving hay. “Hey Big Mac, is Applejack home?” Twilight asked the veritable mountain of pony. “Eeyup,” came the simple reply as he finished what he was doing. “Mixer, this is Big Macintosh. He’s Applejack’s brother.” “Nice to meet you,” I said as Big Mac walked up to us. Now, I’ll admit, I’m slightly taller than most ponies but this mammoth was a full head taller, and possibly twice as wide at the shoulders, as I was. It was a little intimidating. “Eeyup.” I looked quizzically at him. “Is that all you say?” “Nope.” “Big Mac isn’t much of a talker,” Twilight explained. “I see..” “So, is Applejack out in the fields?” “Eeyup.” For his imposing stature, Big Mac seemed amiable enough, and he seemed friendly enough. Twilight thanked the red giant and we made our way out of the barn and out to the orchard proper, walking among the trees filled with apples. “I don’t see any workers out here. Are they all on break?” I asked, looking around at the bins of apples dotted here and there among the trees. “Workers? The Apple family runs the orchard by themselves,” Twilight said, scanning for the orange farmer. “It must be a big family to take care of so much land.” “Oh, it is. The Apples have family all over Equestria, but Applejack and Big Mac are the only ones here that work the fields. Apple Bloom is still too young, and Granny Smith, well, she’s a little past her prime to be bucking apples.” “You mean to tell me that two, TWO, ponies harvest all these apples by themselves?!” “Mhm,” came the calm response. My jaw dropped. I would have expected ten, maybe twenty unicorns at the very least to be able to farm such a plot of land; but, two ponies, and earth ponies at that, harvesting all the apple trees on an orchard that stretched for acres? To say that was a herculean task was an understatement, it was flat out impossible. A dull thump shook me from my stupor as we came within sight of the farmer. She was rearing on her front legs by an apple tree. “Hi Applejack!” Twilight called. “Heya Twi,” she called back before giving the tree a mighty kick, sending every single apple tumbling down into a waiting pair of bins. My jaw dropped again. The strength it would take to drop one apple from the tree was impressive, but all of them? I’d have to wager one kick from those legs could break a pony in half. She appraised her work and, seeming to be satisfied, started towards us. “So, Ah see y’all brought a guest with ya. I just wish ya would’ve told me, Ah could’ve prepared a proper welcome.” “Sorry AJ, it was kind of a last minute thing. Besides, I’m trying to stick to a schedule so we can’t stay too long,” Twilight explained. Applejack let out a little giggle, “You an’ yer schedules.” She then turned to me and extended a hoof, “Howdy there. If y’all didn’t hear, Mah name’s Applejack.” I grabbed her hoof to shake it and was surprised by the vigor of her shake. “Ah remember you. Weren’t you the one that showed up after Discord’s shenanigans?” “Yes, that was indeed me. My name is Mixer, in case you didn’t remember. This is quite an orchard you’ve got here.” “Mhm, best apples in Ponyville. All grown right here.” She went over to a tree and gave it a kick. This one yielded more than just apples however, as a cyan bundle fell on top of the apple farmer. “RD? What’re y’all doin’ in Mah apple trees?!” The bundle turned out to be a pegasus, the same one from the day before. Rainbow Dash. “I was just taking a break from the weather job, and I thought I’d take a quick nap.” “I betcha you were eatin’ some apples too,” she snorted, pushing the pegasus off of her. “Maybe one or two,” the cyan weather pony replied sheepishly. It wasn’t completely unheard of for pegasi to be dispatched to alter the weather patterns in the city. After all, between artificial thermals from the buildings and the winds from out at sea the weather could be erratic. But there were hardly even any clouds in the sky, so why would a weather pony even be out? “Well, this saves some time,” Twilight said. “It does?” Applejack and Rainbow Dash replied in unison. “Rainbow Dash, this is Mixer. Mixer, this is Rainbow Dash,” Twilight said, speeding introductions along. Unlike every other pony Twilight introduced me to, Rainbow seemed to size me up first. “You’re the guy from yesterday right? The one who showed up after we stoned Discord?” “Yes.” “So what’s so special about you? You don’t look any different than any other stallion.” It seemed that she had a bit of a barbed tongue. “Rainbow Dash!” Twilight admonished, “He may not look like it, but he’s from another country.” “Oh, so he’s not just a regular old pony.” I don’t know what irked me more, the backhanded comment or the nonchalant attitude. Twilight frowned slightly but continued, “Yes. In fact, I’m taking him to see Princess Celestia after this.” “And you weren’t going to bring us?” Rainbow questioned. “Sorry, but this is kind of official Rainbow.” “I can be official,” she protested. “No RD." “Besides, you can pay me back by helpin’ me with the apples,” AJ said. Rainbow Dash let out a groan, “Fine.” This place sure had a strange diversity of ponies. From the hyper Pinkie Pie, to hard-working Applejack, all the way to Rainbow Dash. “Well, we should get going,” Twilight said, directing me back toward the barnyard. We left the two mares to their apple bucking and started our way back toward Ponyville proper. “Hey, where’s Spike?” I asked, noticing for the first time that he wasn’t with us. In fact, I don’t think he had been with us since our visit with Pinkie Pie. Twilight took a quick look around and then her face got worried. “Wasn’t he right behind us?” “I remember him being with us back at Sugarcube Corner.” “Wasn’t he at Fluttershy’s?” “I don’t think so, though the rabbit was taking up a good portion of my attention.” “Maybe he’s with Pinkie then.” “Or maybe he forgot something at the library?” I suggested. “Wait right here, I’ll go check,” she said, before disappearing in a flash of light. I was familiar with teleportation magic, but even I could only go short distances, while the library was quite a distance away. A minute or so passed before she reappeared with Spike riding atop her back. “I found him eating cupcakes in the library,” Twilight said, giving the dragon a disapproving look. “What, I got hungry... besides, I could barely keep up with you when you left Sugarcube Corner. It’s like you were trying to get away or something.” “Well, now that that’s done with, shall we continue?” I asked. Twilight’s face brightened back into a happier look and she nodded, “Yes. I’m sure the princess will be excited to meet you.” The three of us continued to the train station and boarded the train. It wasn’t terribly modern, but it was a sign that there was at least some technology in this country. The ride to Canterlot was short and uneventful, though it did give me a chance to think on what I would say to the princess. If the ponies of Ponyville were anything to go by, I might expect a feast in my honor or some other such thing, these Equestrians seeming so hospitable. On the other hoof, it might be a tense meeting. I know how royal matters can quickly become concerns. It all boiled down to the princess’ disposition on what I would say, and since that was the case, I decided to just wing it. We arrived in a sizable city, nothing overly large, but it was definitely a city and not a town. We got off the train and were greeted by a pair of pegasi in golden armor. Their coats were snow white and their eyes were a piercing blue. It was probably an illusion bound to the armor but it still seemed real enough. It was an impressive move for a society that, up until this point, had only shown signs of being peaceful and blissfully unaware of conflict. “Right this way," said one of the guards, “The Princess is expecting you.” “Of course. Come on Mixer,” Twilight said, nudging me forward. One thing was for sure about the guards, they had an undeniable presence about them. Even though they keep a polite distance from us it was clear that it was a courtesy, not a standard. We walked past many buildings on our way towards the castle. It was an interesting building to be sure. A bold architectural move to build on the side of a mountain, even having some parts cantilevered over the edge as they were. It gave the castle an almost fantastical property, like it defied gravity to sit as a symbol. A symbol of what though, I wasn’t yet sure. I also noted the demographic of the city. It was primarily unicorns, unlike Ponyville, which had a fairly even mix of unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies. They also seemed to be dressed in fine clothes, indicating that it was a thing of status to live here, and that many of the residents were likely nobility. We finally reached the castle doors, which were large double doors, easily three times the size of a pony. Possibly for admitting troops perhaps? We stopped and two more of the clone-like pegasi opened the doors for us. Aside from a small foyer, the doors led directly to a large throne room. The vaulted ceiling was impressive and was supported by white marble columns. On either side of the room were stained glass windows which, at a glance, seemed to show images of some kind. But that wasn’t the most impressive thing in the room. No, what was the most astounding was the figure sitting on a raised throne towards the back of the room was a mythic figure: and alicorn! I could feel my heart skip a beat at the mere sight. All manner of study had gone into the stories of alicorns, but all scientific inquiry had led to the conclusion that they were merely symbolic of tribal cooperation. But this? This was a living, breathing alicorn. Her coat was pure white, an unbroken expanse of alabaster glory that seemed to let off its own glow. Her mane was even more astonishing. It was multi colored, but unlike Rainbow Dash, whose mane was prismatic, her mane was an auroric, literally flowing with green, blue, and pink. It seemed to be blown by an invisible wind, as was her tail that was similarly colored. Most impressive of all was her size, she was twice as tall, if not more, than I was. All I could do was stand in the doorway and stare, completely awestruck. “Mixer? Are you okay?” Twilight said, prodding my in the side. “She...sh-she’s...” was all I could muster. After all, I was in the presence of what amounted to a god. Twilight gave me a strange look and then both of our attention was drawn by motion from the throne. The alicorn had risen to her hooves and began to walk toward us. Her face wore a warm smile as she neared us. It was something that I could have sworn had a power all on its own. When she reached us I bowed as low as I could, almost flattening to the floor. I would have said something, but what do you say to a god? “Princess Celestia!” Twilight said happily. I heard her move, but didn’t lift my head from the ground. Then it hit me, “Princess?” I couldn’t help but look up. She giggled. It was a heavenly sound. “Rise. You don’t need to bow, much less that far.” I stood back up and saw that Twilight and Spike were standing beside the princess. “I...I’m sorry. It’s just... you...” I felt like an utter idiot, stuttering in front of an alicorn. So much for first impressions. Spike nudged her leg, “He’s a little goofy around new things.” “Oh?” “Yes, your majesty. This is... new, to say the very least.” “From what my faithful student has told me, you were send to Equestria unexpectedly. And it couldn’t have been an a more inopportune time. I apologize for you having to deal with Discord.” “There’s really no need to apologize. I-It’s not as if you brought me here.” Even though I was able to speak somewhat coherently, I still couldn’t help but stutter. “Even so, I am sorry you had to deal with it. But where are my manners, we haven’t even been properly introduced. My name is Princess Celestia.” I made another bow, “And my name is Mixer, your highness. It is an honor to meet you.” “And it is a pleasure to meet you Mixer. But you don’t have to continue bowing now.” “But-” I began to protest, but was silenced by her raised hoof. “Don’t feel obligated to bow simply because you are from another country.” “It’s not just that m’lady. You’re... well... you’re an alicorn.” She let out a little giggle, “Does that mean then that my sister and I should bow to each other?” I opened my mouth to say something, but no words came out. There were not one, but two alicorns in Equestria. “Uh, princess, I think you might want to take it easy on him,” Twilight suggested, apparently seeing all my cognitive function leaking out from my ears. At least that’s what it felt like. “Hmm?” she seemed to only now be realizing that I hadn’t yet closed my mouth and my eyes were some mix between glazed and pained. “Are you alright?” “T-t-two...” was all I managed before my poor mind couldn’t take it anymore and shutdown. “Oh dear...”